Bacteria sources in the Los Angeles River Watershed include anthropogenic and nonanthropogenic sources and point and nonpoint sources. Each of these sources contributes to the elevated levels of bacteria indicator densities in the Los Angeles River Watershed during dry and wet weather.

Until everyone stops treating it like a sewer, what comes out of it is gonna be a little gross. State regulators are stepping up action - they're on track to approve a TMDL (= total maximum daily load - a limit) for bacteria. They're scheduled to do that next month.

While there are many sources of indicator bacteria, discharges from the municipal separate storm sewer system (MS4) are the principle source of bacteria to the Los Angeles River and its tributaries in both dry weather and wet weather. During the dry weather, discharges from storm drains and tributaries contribute roughly 13% of the flow in the Los Angeles River but almost 90% of the E. coli loading.

Translation: when it's stormy, the stormwater is the problem. When it's not stormy, the stormwater system's STILL the problem.

3. Nobody really tests for viruses. Kind of like in This is Spinal Tap, when Nigel Tufnel says, "you can't really dust for vomit." We do know that testing for what they test for is the most reliable method approved. In 1995, an epidemiological study from USC, the Orange County Sanitation District, the city of Los Angeles and Heal the Bay, done as part of the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Project, established a link between indicator bacteria and stuff that makes people sick. Virus testing is still really unreliable. So's fast bacteria testing. Which brings us to:

Conference participants asked if the new criteria would be as protective as the existing ones. (Current criteria are based on an 8 in a 1,000 risk of stomach flu for swimmers at freshwater beaches and 19 in 1,000 for ocean beaches). Also, they asked if the criteria would allow states, cities or counties to develop site-specific rules. And would beach monitoring programs be required to use rapid methods to quantify fecal bacteria densities in a few hours rather than waiting until the next day?

Beach advocates are hoping and expecting and praying to get a look at new proposed testing procedures next month in New Orleans. But I don't think expectations are too high for too many changes.

Gold's blog also talks about work by Heal the Bay and Stanford University to find funding for a predictive model for beach water quality. Other parts of the country are already doing that sort of forecasting publicly.

5. It's not at all clear who's going to pay for beach funding in the future. Except in Los Angeles. This might be the biggest beach bummer of all: everything fundingwise has been a little bit of a mess since 2008, when the Governator's budget-balancing efforts included vetoing funding from the state for beach testing. The state water board put the funding back, at least through last summer. Then the state approved reccovery act money to get through last fall. Funding's covered - again by the state water resources control board - through the end of this year. That's the extent of long term plans.

Heal the Bay's report card points out that there is no secured state source of funding for beach monitoring in 2012 - and argues that federal money - half a million dollars from the Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health (BEACH) Act is "woefully inadequate."

If you're in LA, you're in luck. "Los Angeles County has been able to continue sampling and protecting public health as before," writes the Heal the Bay team "This is due to the structure of the program, sewage treatment plant and stormwater permit monitoring requirements, and the shared monitoring responsibilities between agencies in the county."

And if you're out anywhere from Mexico to the central coast today, have a great time - and report back here with the conditions you see at your favorite spots!

Previously in Pacific Swell

KPCC's Molly Peterson on a Gilligan's Island style tour of environmental stories in and affecting Southern California. Named for the Yvor Winters poem: "The slow Pacific swell stirs on the sand/Sleeping to sink away, withdrawing land..."
Follow the blog at @PacificSwell and Molly at @KPCCmolly.